Baby Shower

We had a fun baby shower this past Saturday, with just a few friends from the area. I don't have pictures yet, but once I do, I will certainly post them. I am quite sure that there are some very amusing ones.
One of my favorite things about the shower was something that was suggested by my old boss - she said that at her sister's shower, everyone was asked to bring their favorite children's book, to jumpstart the baby's library. I thought this was a fantastic idea, and as a result, I have many lovely books now! My mom is visiting me this weekend, and she also brought me a huge stack of books that we read together when I was a child. Some of the books I remembered very well, and others I had totally forgotten about until I had them in my hands again. Now I just need to organize the baby's room in a way that will allow for books to be put somewhere. We will be buying another book case soon for sure.
Other than books I got some fantastic clothes, a diaper bag (two actually, so I took one back), and some super cute bibs. Showers are fun. :)
In other news, I was trying to remember if I mentioned my doctor's visit this week. I don't think I did. Basically I have a big baby, is what we have decided. I am measuring at 33 inches, which is slightly larger than normal for where I'm at in the pregnancy. I'm doing yoga, and reading tons about natural birth, so hopefully I will have no trouble at all just because he's a little big. Positive thinking is incredibly important when it comes to having a good labor, so I am keeping that up as well! Oh . . . I was going to do a post all about why I am choosing natural labor, and all the stuff I have learned about various types of augmentation of labor, but I think I'll do a separate post about that later.

He has a name!

Okay, big news!! Some of you may have already heard that we have settled on a name for our little boy. Some of you may think that name is Josiah, since that's what we were discussing for so long. But as time went on, neither of us really felt like that was right, even though we were calling him that occasionally. So we hadn't officially said that was his name, but more like just the top of a short list. And then a month or so ago I had this dream . . .
I'm not kidding, my dreams have been fairly epic since I became pregnant. Sometimes it feels as though I am watching a movie, and that's how this one was. A huge, crazy, end-of-the-world type movie. I could tell you more than I'll share here, because some of the scenes are still really clear in my mind, but I'll just tell you the important part. So I was pregnant in my dream, and the world was ending. I believe the sun had exploded, at least that's what it looked like. (Yes, I saw it happen in the dream.) I had a few hours to find a way to safety (presumably off the planet, although that was never really clear). Somehow I managed to get together with a group of people who were leaving, there were only eight or so of us, and we knew that it would be up to us to begin a new human civilization. And what I said right before I woke up was, "Baby Gabriel will be the first of the new civilization." So when I woke up, I was like, that's it . . . Gabriel.
The more I thought about it the more I liked it as a name, and when I brought it up with Robert, he said he really liked it too. I'm pretty sure we had actually mentioned this name before, but neither of us felt very attached to it. But now that we're thinking more of the little person that is our son, it just seems right. So, laugh all you want that I got my son's name from an epic, kooky, sci-fi dream, but hey, it's a good name isn't it?

Miscellaneous post about all the stuff I haven't been posting about

I know, it's been ages since I posted. And I have definitely had stuff to post about too, it is just a matter of laziness, I suppose.
So, first off, I am supposed to post a recent tummy picture, since it's been more than four weeks since the last one, but we haven't taken one yet. So here is a picture of me at about 27 weeks, although you can't really get a good idea about how big I actually am. Not that I'm huge yet, although of course I feel enormous. Secondly, I should report that the baby has been moving a bunch. I know that I've already mentioned that, but seriously! This guy is a jumper. It is incredibly entertaining to watch my body move around with him, really. Although it probably creeps everyone else out. So he seems to be doing well, enjoying life, etc.
I had a doctor's visit on Friday, and as usual, I feel like I'm gaining too much weight. The doctor says it's okay, that I just need to make sure I'm eating right. My cousins were in town this last week, so I spent a few days eating out with family, which makes eating right a little bit more difficult. But I'm trying to get back on track again. I was also really lazy, and not eating right even at home, even though I have all these lovely vegetables to cook with! But like I said, I'm trying harder now. I have gained just about 30 pounds, and 35 is the most that they really want me to gain. And I still have a couple months. So I'll probably be going over that number, but hopefully not by too much.
In further news, we have begun our childbirth classes! So far we have gone to two, but I am most excited about the one that is this next week. We get a tour of the childbirth center on Wednesday! This is very exciting for me. But the class otherwise has been good. It's a small class, with only six other couples (I guess there are usually at least twice that many in a class). There are a lot of Microsoft employees, two of whom work on the XBOX, which we thought was kind of entertaining. We have talked more to one couple in particular, because they have so much in common with us. The husband, Ke, is one of the XBOX guys, the wife, Tao, is a "homemaker" (I prefer stay-at-home mom-to-be, but homemaker was what her husband called her), they share our due date and our doctor! The wife, however, does not speak very much English, so we have mainly talked to the husband. I talked a little bit to another woman this last week, but we still haven't connected much otherwise. So far in the classes we have talked about the labor process, as well as techniques for breathing and relaxing through contractions. Most of us want to go as natural as we can with our birthing process, but we will be talking about pain medication options and that sort of thing in the coming weeks. I have decided that I for sure am not interested in an epidural, but I do want to know a little bit more about other pain management options.
And lastly, another hat, bootie, and mitten set! Someday I may actually make something larger, but for now, these little things are fun, and they are necessary. This set was supposed to be newborn size, however it looks a little bigger to me. Which is a good thing, I suppose, since the baby will not be newborn size forever!

More knitting - I can't help myself

I have nothing new to report, beyond being more uncomfortable the past few days than normal. My back and hips are not feeling super awesome, and I think I'm suffering from growing pains in general. But other than that, we are still good. We can see our little wiggle worm moving around from the outside occasionally now. I got to observe the horror this creates in male friends; I think my friend Andrew may still be traumatized. But I think it's pretty entertaining.
And now I get to share more ridiculously cute knitted stuff! I really don't think I'll be running out of knitted things to share anytime soon, so you'll just have to put up with me. This is my favorite set that I've made so far. It's super easy and super cute, and really quick to make as well.
I'll have another picture up of the baby (well, from the outside, you know what I mean) in the next week or so.